Poetry meme
This is a meme I spotted at Bice’s, then at Poetry Thursday, but I believe it originated with Cam.
1. The first poem I remember reading/hearing/reacting to was…
- Shel Silverstein’s “Colors.” It shows up right near the start of Where the Sidewalk Ends. I first read it when I was seven or eight. I was always a little weird, especially as a young child, so a poem celebrating personal peculiarity, as this one seemed to, was oddly comforting.
2. I was forced to memorize (name of poem) in school and…
- I don’t recall being forced to memorize any proper poetry for school, unless you count Shakespearean lines. In my junior year of high school we had to recite lines from Macbeth for English class. I chose the soliloquy from Act 5, Scene 5 – the one that happens right after Macbeth learns of his wife’s death. You may not know what I’m talking about, but everyone’s heard lines from this passage; they litter pop culture – phrases like “Out, out, brief candle,” or “full of sound and fury.” I always thought it was a great set of lines to recite.
3. I read/don’t read poetry because…
- I read poetry because I like the sounds and meanings of words, especially when someone with the gift of weaving them together finds a way to fuse the meanings with the sounds in a way that makes them seem as if they couldn’t be arranged any other way.
4. A poem I’m likely to think about when asked about a favorite poem is…
- “The Writer” by Richard Wilbur. The imagery illustrates the struggles of adolescence, or of any other difficult growth experience, brilliantly.
5. I write/don’t write poetry, but…
- I write poetry, but I’m constantly envying the skills of others. I’ve always been able to write fairly well, but I read so many other poets whose skill I instantly recognize as far superior. But I’m reminded of the Frost quote, “To be a poet is a condition, not a profession” – which must be true, because if it were anything but a condition, the combination of self-awareness and envy would probably keep me from pursuing poetry any further.
6. My experience with reading poetry differs from my experience with reading other types of literature…
- Absolutely. Or was this supposed to be a “because” answer? If so, I’ll have to just say poetry has always struck me as more adaptable than, say, a novel or news periodical. I can almost always find a way to relate good lyrical text to something that already seemed to be inside me, whether an idea or a memory.
7. I find poetry…
- Addictive. And that includes the things I see everyday that seem to beg for verbalization. Unfortunately, most of these things are far past my vocabulary to interpret adequately. (Or maybe that’s a good thing.)
8. The last time I heard poetry…
- Was yesterday (I’ll limit this answer to the verbal kind). I was checking out Autumn’s revamped website, clicking on a few of the audio poems she’s posted. Makes me think I should attend a reading like I used to do every once in a while.
9. I think poetry is like…
- The fusion of left and right brain. It’s ambidextrous human consciousness, forcing the abstract inside the concrete of the limits of language, and making the two seem as though they were made for each other.
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